0.14285714%: A Cynical View of Local Politics

I'm a little tardy with this post, it happened in early January. For that matter, I guess I'm a little tardy with posting a post at all, so tie me to the whipping post.

So back in the Spring of 2002, wife Barbara was looking for a part-time job. I almost kiddingly suggested she run for city council. She apparently found it somewhat intriguing but balked. I said, do it as a lark, or do it for real. Something must have been right, 'cause she went for it, people encouraged her, donated money, and the biggest thing, she enjoyed door knocking. Essential to win an election. Long story short, she won as the last ward was counted, beating a two-term incumbent for the at-large (entire city) position.

What's really amazing and a down right shame however, is she became only the 4th woman in city history to serve on a seven member council in existence since the mid-1890's...115 years or so. Thus the title of this post, 1/7th. Barb joined the 3rd woman ever elected, Nancy Erickson who represented Ward 5. Cameron McMahon was elected at-large back in the 50's or 60's, and Rosemary Given Amble served in the at-large position, I wanna say in the 80's.

So Barb served for eight years, and if you ask her that was just a bit too long. So here's some photos of her last meeting. The good part? Well hallelujah! Bemidji being the progressive city it is, elected it's 5th woman in history, keeping the council 0.14285714% female. Another woman ran who was the better man, in my view, for the at-large seat being vacated by Barbara. So sad, I don't think the electorate did it's homework. Nope, I don't.  Here goes.

No gold watch, but got a nice plaque and a corsage. Unfortunately, she was the only councilor to represent half the city on the issue of events centers, right down to the last meeting, while two others abandoned earlier. Barb consistently received kudos on her stand based on principle. Imagine that, principle.

Before the meeting and Barb's arrival, some sneaky person put this unassuming package on her portion of the council desk. The city clerk courteously marked the spot so no mistakes were made and given to some male councilor.

Councilor Meuers discovers the package, unwraps it, and then breaks into song and raps about flowers. She sang: 

Oh well I don't mind, if you don't mind

'Cause I don't shine if you don't shine

Before I go, can you read my kind?

Headin' to the trail, with the lonesome pines

Oh Kay, you shouldn't have. I never could pin those flowers on. You'd think that would be a skill more men would become more proficient.

Woman councilor #4 welcomes councilor #3. Councilor #3 after serving for eight years decided to run for mayor but was defeated by "big money special interest group" whom she scared the crap out of. One day...if I can scare up the energy, I'll tell that story. The story is one of the reasons why Barb had enough, and the story defeated a woman candidate too. The year? 2008.

Newly elected mayor wearing his political colors, visits with retiring mayor who made the mistake of running for state rep. He couldn't possibly have looked at a Blue Book. Funny thing about power. It exists if people believe it, and doesn't if they don't. 

Barb symbolically passes on her councilor's book to the person who will fill her seat, well...I mean sit in the same chair at the table. Good man who defeated a good woman who in my view who would have been a better councilor, but not a better tuba player.

A better exchange. Barb symbolically passes on the councilor's book to the 5th woman to serve on the Bemidji City Council, Rita Albrecht, an old friend who defeated a two-term male incumbent a la Barba-ra, to represent Ward 4.

Every single living female Bemidji City Councilor. (Well, two are married...but not to each other, illegal in Minnesota) Hell, there's more living US Presidents. Isn't it fun when we see them all together? Pictured: Woman Councilor #5 Rita Albrecht, Woman Councilor #3 Nancy Erickson, and Woman Councilor #4 Barbara Meuers.

Now Davy Crockett

He was the king of the wild frontier

I'd tame him down

If he had his old dead self here

Now Jesse James and Frank James

Baddest men in the land

We got some women who'd make 'em eat now,

Out of your hand

Now John Dillinger

The woman in red got him

Now teach all you hardies about a W.O.M.A.N.

Oww ow oww

I'm a W.O.M.  one A and a N

A woman

A woman ~Etta James

Two folks who represented the entire city. The retiring mayor, and the retiring Councilor at-large. A rare conjunction two years before 2012.

It's Over

All the rainbows in the sky

Start to weep, then say goodbye

You won't be seeing rainbows any more

Setting suns before they fall, Echo to you that's all that's all

But you'll see lonely sunsets after all

It's over It's over It's over It's over~Roy Orbison

Much to my amazement this group be visiting. Left to right; new councilor, old councilor, ex-councilor, and un-councilor. Notice how the men seem to be listening, or are they merely thinking? Which begs the question, what?

The defeated woman candidate from 2008 mentioned earlier, visits with the current city finance director. He must balance budgets and egos.

A Question of Balance

And he thought of those he angered,

For he was not a violent man,

And he thought of those he hurt

For he was not a cruel man

And he thought of those he frightened

For he was not an evil man,

And he understood.

He understood himself.

It's where we stop and look around us

There is nothing that we need.

In a world of persecution

That is burning in it's greed.~Moody Blues

City manager and notorious Gaea critic visits with two of his ex-bosses. City Manager removes infamous Gaia painted sculpture appropriately depicting female genitalia misnamed vagina over vulva, City Councilor in surgical strike of astute politic replaces said artwork, middleman mayor was the referee.

Gaia

Our Mother Earth 

The whispers suggest 

Her center is a smoldering molten core 

All consuming melt of fire 

  

I am skeptic of this witchery called science 

Imagining the center to have a heart much like mine 

  

Vulnerable and sore 

Vibrant muscle drumming in gratitude 

Capillary tunnels flowing out spreading life 

Her blood runs blue 

Into cavernous basins 

Crystalline grotto of incandescent hue 

  

Beating so profoundly 

Resonating to the whole, in a world that thrives on music 

In purity of tribal ritual to intricate unfurling of orchestral fantasia 

Echoes of hollow sharp brass cutting the steady pound to the march of war 

To serene fluid lickings of virgin fingertips caressing the strings of the harp 

Into the steamy moaning, dripping sex of onyx lips singing Mississippi blues 

  

Surging vibrations in vast myriad of artery carnations 

Fed by blood pumping of the same hallowed maternal heart 

  

~Written by Dragonyear

The line-up. Will the new council be the same as the old council?

Won't Get Fooled Again?

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution

Take a bow for the new revolution

Smile and grin at the change all around me

Pick up my guitar and play

Just like yesterday

Then I'll get on my knees and pray

We don't get fooled again

Don't get fooled again

No, no!

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

Meet the new boss

Same as the old boss~The Who

One of the last weird issues our flower child had to deal with was a 2 Ho Hum closing for a (wouldn't ya know it, related to development of the south shore) business who wishes to serve the drug C2H5OH. Some big business wanted to high pressure black mail "the people" into "if we don't get our way we will take our hotel and go home". Well, the new boss is the same as the old boss, although it didn't happen here, it did happen later under the new council, leaving one to one-duh, if money talks.

Money

The best things in life are free

But you can keep them for the birds and bees

Now give me money

That's what I want

That's what I want, yeah

That's what I want

You're lovin' gives me a thrill

But you're lovin' don't pay my bills

Now give me money

That's what I want

That's what I want, yeah

That's what I want

Money don't get everything it's true

What it don't get, I can't use

Now give me money

That's what I want~Berry Gordy and Janie Bradford

Trips. Woman Councilor #3 and Councilor #5 sandwich the retiring mayor's spouse.

The Law. The County Sheriff and the City Police Chief seem mildly amused that they seem to have no more influence over city council majorities than the majority of the people. Now why would not the people's "elected" reps give credence to the opinion of public safety employees allied with the local dram club?

You never give me your money

You only give me your funny paper

and in the middle of negotiations

you break down~Lennon/McCartney

Happy trails to you, until we meet again.

Happy trails to you, keep smilin' until then.

Who cares about the clouds when we're together?

Just sing a song and bring the sunny weather.

Happy trails to you, 'till we meet again.

Some trails are happy ones,

Others are blue.

It's the way you ride the trail that counts,

Here's a happy one for you.

Happy trails to you, until we meet again.

Happy trails to you, keep smilin' until then.

Who cares about the clouds when we're together?

Just sing a song and bring the sunny weather.

Happy trails to you, 'till we meet again. ~Dale Evans

Mid-December Collage

My next youngest brother and I had children young. My eldest and his eldest are probably at least ten years older than the next niece. My parents had four boys and no girls. I have the utmost respect for my mother, as my Dad was a career soldier and served in Korea during the war. He was gone for 18 months.  I was 8 and my youngest brother was born while Dad was in the far east. Mothers out there, can you imagine? Dad got no purple heart -   fortunately, but Mom sure should have.

But my folks had about a dozen granddaughters. They never had a grandson until one brother adopted a boy from the former USSR. My dad alway used to say it took the fall of communism for him to get a grandson.

So we haven't seen much of the second oldest granddaughter, my niece Carey. She'd call once in awhile, but we haven't seen much of her. Well, now she lives not that far away and came for a visit with her beau Jeremy. Never met Jeremy before.

The rest are some nice photos of Barb I think, and an annual Christmas party we go to annually. Duh. 

Act 1, Scene 1. Niece Carey Ann.


You've always been something special to me.
Quite independent, always caring.


Hey Carrie Anne, what's your game now
can anybody play? ~The Hollies

Scene 2. Carey Ann shows Barbara Ann some photos from home and grand niece Haley. Ooo, says Barb.


You got me rockin' and a rollin' 
Rockin' and a reelin' Barbara Ann 
Ba ba ba ba Barbara Ann ~ The Beach Boys

Scene 3. Digital photography, aint it grand?

Scene 4. Makwa (Bear in Ojibwe) the Tom Cat, goes and has a visit with Carey and her left foot. I see washing instructions are printed on the bottom, how convenient. Makwa likes to be scratched behind his ears...so do I.

Scene 5. Jeremy and Carey pose, I suppose.

Scene 6. Boys, don't ya just hate that look. I don't know what it means, but I always tread lightly when i see it, and I've seen it over and over. I think it means, "you think I can't whip you?" "Try me". Makes my shutter shudder, brudder.

Scene 7. Whatever it was, it looks like he got by with it - for now.

Scene 8. Bye for now. A very nice visit, just the same, just like we saw each other recently rather than years. Barbara apparently Carey's apparel, is admiring. 

Scene #9, #9, #9.* It's always nice to say goodbye with a good laugh. Notice how no pix of me with the niece? I guess Barb only takes photos of landscapes and nature. Sigh.
*With apologies to John Lennon and the White Album

Act 2, Scene 1. Here Barbara apparently is oooing and ahhhing over a bowl she made for youngest daughter at a place called Glazed and Amused. An old friend owns the place name of Sandy.  Looks like Barb has a camera in her hand, guess she takes photos of bowls too, just not husbands. Oh well. Oh, that's our young friend Ashley painting a cup for one of her Grandmas.

Act 3, Scene 1. Here we are at an annual Christmas party hosted by our long time friend, Lorraine. That's her sitting with another long time friend Don.

Scene 2. The place is always so crowded, that some people have to stand, and some sit on the stairs eating cheesy potatoes, ham and turkey on dark or light buns. Here Barb is with Mike and Rita, and Rachelle. Barb at this point has about three weeks left on the city council, only the 4th woman to serve on the seven person body in 115 years. Rita was just elected as the 5th woman. Jeesh.

Scene 3. The HELM Coalition. (Former Campaign Consultants and Political Pundits) These guys were legends in politics - in our own minds - back in '96. They actually engineered the election of the guy with the long hair and a woman to the state senate and house respectively. Quite a feat as the former two office holders crashed and burned really baaaaaad. We were good, just ask any of us.  Left to right, Steve. Michael, David, Patrick, and David. 

Scene 4. That photo of these legends of the mind kind, bears repeating for sure. "Hold on", the photographer said, "let's do two, of this crew".

Scene 5. Four of the wives of the HELM Coalition, and someone sitting, er standing in for the 5th. Left to right Rachelle sitting in for Lori (Patrick), Sue (Steve), Lisa (David) Barbara (Michael), and Kristine (David). Now I can't remember which David belongs to which lovely lady, so I'll let you guess.

Act 4, Scene 1. Wondering why I'm calling these photos like a thespian? 'Cause I was in a Christmas play appropriately called A Christmas Carol, that I will blog about soon. I will also blog about Act 3, Scene 2 soon. So you won't have to look back, it is about the 4th and 5th woman Bemidji City Councilor. (Man, typing all these numbers...I never learned to do that very well in typing class.)



I take my card and I stand in line 
To make a buck I work overtime 
Dear Sir letters keep coming in the mail 
I work my back till it's racked with pain 
The boss can't even recall my name 
I show up late and I'm docked 
It never fails 
I feel like a number, feel like a number. ~Bob Seger

Scene 2. My attempt to get a little creative. Actually, the oval shade is probably hiding something. I took several shots of Barb for her facebook page, and I like them all, so here they are.

Scene 3.

Scene 4.

Scene 5. Hey, what the heck, close with another laugh.

Act 5, Scene 1 and Last. I don't know if I'm supposed to tell this or not, but this is the extent of our Christmas holiday decorations, pretty much. We had no children or relatives of any kind home for Christmas, actually had no company at all. 

We imposed on friends for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years Eve - and it was the same family.  (Blogged about New Years already, so I'll do one or two more for Turkey and Christmas, eventually.) Hard to believe they could put up with us three times in six weeks, but they did, which makes them pretty special...and maybe us too?

ICE-urvived Brrrmidji's Polar Plunge

Yup, Ice-survived by not doing it. But 61 others did the plunge and survived including Barb, Tonya and Julie.

Mid-January brings among other things Brrrrmidji Polar Daze. And yup, just like "First City on the Mississippi", I dreamt up the name for this and was it's first chair about a dozen years ago when it was inaugurated. Yeah, I even decided how many "r's" are in Brrrmidji. Yes, and dreamt up all the puns and plays on words for events, most of which have been since dropped. I also came up with a sweat shirt that said "Ice-urvived Brrrmidji Polar Daze". But enough about me, I ain't done squat since that first year.

Now Barbara woke me about 11:30 AM on Saturday the 15th and said she and her absolutely nutty friend Tonya, were going to do the Polar Plunge at 1 PM. Well, it was about 15 degrees below zero with a wind chill. Talk about impulse. Course, it would have to be impulse because if you thought about it much you'd go back to bed.

It takes me awhile to wake up, but I did it because this needed to be documented. Barb been over a year now since breast cancer surgery, and just had her mammogram in the past month, and is clean. She changed in a few ways, some of which are more interesting than others. 

She has never taken photos in the thirty years I've known her, never owned a camera, now she's shooting very good photos of nature on her walks. She's never been a writer, but she's started a blog to showcase her photos and it's an enjoyable and thoughtful read. She went cross country skiing for the first time in her life in the last month with her friend Roger. And now she's gonna do the "plunge".

Now I have to say, that part of her madness is her hanging around with the likes of Tonya. They get pretty nutty when they are together, they laugh and do crazy things. They egg each other on, but Tonya is the younger and comes up with some doozies, but Barb goes right along. Keeps her young. So Tonya also tries to get two other women to come along, one who does...her sister-in-law Julie, and one who decided to do it vicariously and went back to bed. Two out of three ain't bad Tonya, especially with an hour and a half notice.

Oh, they paid 30 bucks to participate, and Barb even raised a few more bucks and got a t-shirt, the money went to the food shelf, a very good cause. Damn shame we have to have a food shelf in this country, don't get me going.

Here's the lay out. Two guys in the water and one up top to help you out. The water is warm, about 40 degrees, but they still won't stay in long. They say 61 crazies did the plunge.

Here comes Batty, Buggy, and Bonkers. Looks like they are getting some last minute instructions from someone dressed for the weather, perhaps she is asking them if they really want to do this silly thing.

Julie's clapping her hands like she's regressed to about age six, Tonya's slapped her head not quite enough times, while Barb is either getting in the zone or about to raise her fists to flatten the noses of her book end zanies and escape.

Julie and Tonya start to do the ice dance, while Barb is still clenching those fists.

Barb still seems to be crazed while her co-crazies seem relaxed visiting with other mad hatters, awaiting the pool to be emptied.

Barb finally must realize where she's at and what she's about to do and begins to laugh uncontrollably, or scream ACCCCCKKKKKKK, while friend Tonya steadies her so she don't fall over while singing:


Take me to the river, drop me in the water
Push me in the river, dip me in the water
Washing me down, washing me ~Talking Heads

Julie readies the start by jogging in place, Tonya says a happy prayer, and Barb considers whether she could actually leap over the pool to the other side and not get into the icy waters.

Clasping hands, the time has come. It's all come down to this. They can't quit now. Can they?

Here they come, walkin' 
Down the street.
They get the funniest looks from 
Ev'ry one they meet.
Hey, hey, they're the Monkees ~ Boyce and Hart (with apologies)

The trio walks on water for a split second before sinking up to their chests in some rather chilly waters. Lac de Faithe, no doubt? Oh yes, doubt or they wouldn't have sunk.

Well, they are smiling. Looks like a run for the ladder and looks like Barb beat 'em tuit, or maybe Tonya and Julie were being charitable.  Ooo, ooo, ooo, ooo. Let's go, c'mon, c'mon.

What do you suppose they are saying? Or perhaps noises they are making? To the warming house, quickly change into dry clothes and make room for the rest of the zanies.

Note on Tonya's hair, you can actually see icicles forming. When it's 15 degrees below zero it don't take long for ice to form. They actually say this is good for the heart, thus the popularity of saunas.


Popsicles, icicles, baseball and fancy clothes
These are a few of the things he loves ~David Gates (The Murmaids '63)

Some folks were even crazier.

Believe it or not, these two were from Hawaii. Boy, were they in for a surprise. Looks like they're dressed for Waikiki.

The Bemidji Fire Department in full regalia. 

We did it!

Friends Forever! Baptized in the cold, frozen forever connected...unitl they thaw.

But where's Julie?

There she is, must have gotten lost looking for her glasses.

There's the trippy Trio, appearing better dressed for the weather than they did a moment ago. Seem none the worse for the experience.

And another view. After standing that way awhile, they were able to separate as the warmth of their bodies melted the connective ice.

Frozen again, I wanted to help straighten them out, but they wouldn't listen to me.

Tonya greets husband and daughter.

Packed up and ready to go. Another adventure finished. What wild and crazy thing do they ponder as they leave the ice of Lake Bemidjigamaag? I'll keep ya posted.